


Two Decades

by Mini_Nate



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Bokuto Koutarou & Kuroo Tetsurou are Bros, Bokuto Koutarou is a Good Friend, Canon Compliant, Caring Kozume Kenma, Childhood Friends, Firsts, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay panic Kuroo, Growing Up Together, Kissing, Kuroo Tetsurou Being a Drama Queen, M/M, Minor Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Panic Attacks, Pining, Self-indulgent shower scene, Sharing a Bed, Slice of Life, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, and they were roomates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25627255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mini_Nate/pseuds/Mini_Nate
Summary: Five times Kuroo and Kenma shared a bed, and one time they didn't.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 38
Kudos: 353
Collections: Kenma Ship Week 2020, Kuroken Week 2020, My favorite haikyuu fics, Recommended KuroKen Fics





	Two Decades

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this in April for Kuroken Week 2020, but it took a bit longer than the 3 days I had set aside so here we go ! This is my first fanfic, and I am very excited to finally share it.  
> I would like to thank my friend @carrochan for all the help, I don't know if I would have finished this without you <3

-1-

  
When Kuroo was 8, he moved to a new neighbourhood. Being a quiet and shy kid, the move did put a bit of stress on him, but that’s where his new friend came into play.

  
Kenma was his neighbour, and his first friend. He was incredibly cool, with his piercing golden eyes, his quick thinking and his talent at video games. Despite being a year younger than him, he seemed more mature, and Kuroo wasn’t bothered by that at all. He was so deeply grateful for Kenma, who did not mind his silences and instead seemed to enjoy spending time with him.

  
They initially met because the adults pushed them towards each other, probably thinking they would become fast friends since they were so close in age. Which was exactly what happened, because for two lonely boys they sure were compatible.

  
They spent a lot of time together since that first meeting, sometimes Kenma showed him a certain game he liked, sometimes Kuroo brought over a recording of an old volleyball match for them to watch. After a couple weeks, they even decided to try out some of the moves they saw the professionals do!

  
It was one of those afternoons spent at their makeshift volleyball court by the river, making passes at each other. It was more difficult than they expected at first and they missed quite often, but Kuroo seemed a lot happier and outgoing during those moments, and Kenma liked seeing him like that. Receiving a ball with his face from time to time was a low price to pay, especially when Kuroo often bought him a slice of apple pie as an apology.

  
“Kenma! You said you were close to mastering the passes, but I see you still like to use your face for that!” Kuroo laughed loudly, pointing at his grumbling friend.

  
“Leveling up takes time,” Kenma replied with a huff. He was definitely expecting apple pie after this.

  
A few more passes later, they made their way over to the Kozume household for dinner. It was a common occurrence for Kuroo to eat with Kenma’s family at this point; it happened every time his dad and grandparents weren’t at home.

  
By the time they reached the front door, Kuroo could barely keep his eyes open. They stepped inside and removed their shoes after announcing their arrival, before being greeted by Kenma’s mother who seemed to immediately notice Kuroo’s tiredness.

  
“Tetsurou, why don’t you go take a nap in Kenma’s bed,” she suggested, “I’ll come wake you up when dinner is ready.”

  
Suddenly unnerved at the idea of sleeping in a bed that wasn’t his for the first time, he could feel his heart beating faster. But before he could really start to overthink, Kenma grabbed his hand and calmly pulled him towards his bedroom while talking softly about the game he had just started.

  
They hadn’t known each other for that long, just a few months actually, but Kenma already seemed to always know how to calm him down. Kuroo let out a small wet chuckle upon seeing the dozen or so cats on his friend’s new bedspread. It was so cute, ‘kind of like Kenma’ his mind provided.

  
“I will stay close to you the whole time you sleep, don’t worry,” Kenma told him, taking his handheld console out of his pocket. The promise made Kuroo relax enough to muster a small smile of his own. It’s not that he thought Kenma would be gone when he woke up, it was his bedroom after all. But it was still reassuring to hear.

  
After he got under the cover, Kenma noticed that Kuroo hadn’t let go of his hand and was pulling him down too. Eyes full of questions, Kenma tilted his head to the side. Kuroo’s answer came muffled from under the comforter that was pulled up to his nose.

  
“You said you would stay close…”

  
And that’s how, despite his best efforts to stay awake to make sure Kuroo wasn’t getting worked up again, Kenma ended up falling asleep, his handheld dropped somewhere on the bed, his friend curled up around him.

  
From that day on, they started sharing the bed for afternoon naps when over at each other’s house.

  
\------------------------------------

  
-2-

  
When they were in Junior High, Kuroo convinced Kenma to join the volleyball team with him. It actually took a lot of sweet talking, since Kenma wasn’t the most comfortable with social interactions and much preferred spending his free time playing video games in his room rather than running around with people shouting at him, but in the end he accepted. Kuroo loved volleyball, and he figured Kenma liked it to some degree, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise when Kenma voiced his intention to quit the club at the end of the school year.

  
“You really should keep playing,” he told him, “You’re super talented, and you’ll be able to keep the other guys in check. I know some of the older members were giving you a hard time, but they’ll be gone next year and you’ll get to enjoy yourself more.” He looked over at Kenma, who was laying on his bed with his handheld in front of his face. It wasn’t the first time they had this conversation that week, but Kuroo told himself he would mention it just once more and if Kenma was still decided after that he would drop it.

  
“But you’ll be gone too…” came a soft voice, soft enough that Kuroo could have missed it if he wasn’t intently focused on his friend. Kenma looked over at him and spoke a bit louder, “Where’s the fun in playing volleyball if you’re not there?”

  
Kuroo got up from his spot on the floor and made his way to the bed, sitting down next to Kenma to play with his hair.

  
“It’s only for a year, then you’ll be joining me in High School… I know it sucks, I honestly hate it so much,” he started, feeling his heart beat faster as he couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I wish we could stay in the same school forever, or that you could skip a year because you’re clearly smart enough, or maybe I should just redo one, this is so dumb-“ he cut himself off, feeling his throat closing and his eyes water. What an idiot, he was supposed to be comforting Kenma. Kenma who was going to be all alone next year because apparently friendships weren’t important to the school system.

  
He didn’t even feel the bed move, but he felt two small hands on his cheeks and it’s only when he opened his eyes that he realized he had closed them.

  
“Kuro, hey Kuro, look at me,” he heard, his glassy eyes slowly focusing on the black haired boy kneeling in front of him. “That’s it, look at me and breathe, slowly, in and out, just like you showed me.”

  
Taking a shuddering breath, he slowly released the air after holding it in for five seconds. After a few minutes of this, Kenma’s hands still on his cheeks, he felt himself grow calmer again. The tears that started falling at some point had stopped, his breathing evened out, his hands stopped shaking on his thighs. He felt like an idiot.

  
“You’re not an idiot, happens to the best of us,” Kenma said in a low voice. Had he said his thoughts out loud without realizing or did Kenma just know him too well? He didn’t know and it wasn’t really important at this moment.

  
“I’m sorry… You shouldn’t have to deal with this, not right now, not tonight. I came over so we could have fun and spend a cool last night of the school year, and that was pretty uncool,” Kuroo mumbled, looking to the side.

  
Letting go of his face, Kenma let out a snort before getting up from his bed. “Don’t worry about that, and it’s not like this is our last sleepover, you’re not moving away and you’re not dying.” He started to look through his closet and took out his pajamas. “I’m going to go change and brush my teeth, I’ll be right back with the stuff to set up your futon.”

  
Once alone in the room, Kuroo slowly got up to gather his own sleeping things. After a short pep talk in front of the small mirror on the wall that mostly consisted of telling himself to quit acting like a big baby, he made his way over to his bag to get his own set of pajamas. When Kenma came back, arms full of bedsheets, Kuroo quickly left and got ready in the bathroom, coming back to see the futon set up on the floor next to Kenma’s bed, as usual.

  
After some more talking back and forth from their respective beds, Kenma announced that he was turning the light off. In the dark, suddenly, Kuroo’s bed felt too cold, too empty, too far away from the one person he absolutely did not want to be away from at the moment. After tossing and turning for what felt like hours but was probably closer to 10 minutes, he let out a defeated sigh before whispering, “Are you awake?” He was only half expecting an answer.

  
“Yeah.” came the soft reply.

  
The silence stretched for a bit before Kuroo gathered himself together enough to ask, “Can I, uh, would you mind if I- I slept in your bed tonight? Just for tonight!” he hurriedly added. “If you don’t want me to it’s fine, I’m just… tonight feels kinda weird and…”

  
“Mmh, I get what you mean.” Not one for long speeches, Kenma just scooted towards the wall and held his blanket open for Kuroo to make his way over. After doing exactly that, Kuroo could feel himself instantly relaxing. A smile tugging at his lips, his eyes closed, he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy who snuggled up to his side, just like they did when taking afternoon naps.

  
From that day on, they stopped setting up the futon when one of them was sleeping over. It was just easier and more comfortable to share the bed.

  
\------------------------------------

  
-3-

  
During Kenma’s second year of High School, when they were at one of their week long volleyball training camp, someone had the brilliant idea to set up a horror movie for the group to watch. It was the end of the week, everyone was tired but also too excited to sleep since this was their last night there before heading back home at the end of the next day.

  
In one of the big rooms, sprawled around on the floor, you could find most of the Karasuno team (since Nishinoya was the one who first suggested watching the movie), but also Bokuto and Akaashi from Fukurodani, as well as Nekoma’s Yaku, Yamamoto, Lev, Kuroo and finally Kenma, who didn’t really want to be there. Everyone came in with their futon as the common decision was that they would stay the night there instead of heading back to their respective rooms and risk waking up other students after the movie was over.

  
“I don’t even like horror movies Kuro, why did you make me come,” Kenma asked grumpily, his fingers twitching at the absence of his handheld console that was forcefully stored away in his bag next door.

  
“You don’t know if you like them or not because I know for a fact that you’ve never even seen one! Just give it a shot, it will be fun! I’ll protect you, so don’t worry,” he winked.

  
They were interrupted by an overeager blob of orange hair that came crashing in the middle of their freshly placed futons on the floor.

  
“If you’re too scared Kenma you can hold my hand during the whole movie if you want!!”

  
“Oh uh, thanks Shouyou.”

  
A few minutes (and some arguing about the best movie to pick) later, everyone was piled up in front of a laptop placed on a chair. And if anyone noticed that Kuroo ended up sitting between Kenma and Hinata, nobody made a comment about it.

  
The movie was pretty classic - some ghost haunting a mansion at the edge of the woods where a group of friends were spending a few days. The story was interesting enough to keep Kuroo’s attention most of the time, but not original enough that he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen to watch Kenma’s reactions. The poor boy had his knees drawn up to his chin, and more than once he could see him hide his face behind his hands.

  
About halfway into the movie, Kuroo felt a small tug at his sleeve. When he looked down, Kenma was intently watching the movie, his arm snaking around Kuroo’s and pulling him closer. With a smile, Kuroo scooted over a bit and put his hand over Kenma’s, silently letting him know he was there for him. By the end of the movie, Kenma had spent about a quarter of the remaining time with his face pressed to Kuroo’s arm in order to hide from the jump scares.

  
“That was so cool!!” Nishinoya exclaimed, looking excitedly at a visibly shaken Asahi sitting next to him.

  
After letting out a shuddering breath, Hinata replied: “It wasn’t as scary as I imagined it would be!”

  
Kageyama looked at him with a grumpy-confused expression, blurting out a “What do you mean dumbass, you were gripping my hand so hard the whole time I’m not sure it will be fully functional when we play tomorrow.”

  
Everyone laughed at that, Hinata looking at the floor with ears burning red and Kuroo patting himself on the back for sitting between the hand crusher and Kenma. Hindsight was 20/20.

  
Somewhere on his right, Akaashi was whispering calmly to a wide-eyed, unblinking Bokuto. Hinata was loudly retelling parts of the movie with Lev, while Daichi and Yaku were trying to get Taketora and Tanaka to stop the sudden arm-wrestling contest they seemed to have spontaneously started.

  
A few minutes of not so quiet bickering later, small groups started heading towards the floor bathroom to brush their teeth, getting into their beds once returned.

  
It felt kind of weird to see Kenma rearranging his pillow from the futon next to him, what with them always sharing a bed for the past couple years when sleeping over. The one exception being group outings, like this one. They never really talked about it, but it just made more sense and Kuroo was pretty sure Kenma would not like being teased by the other students so he didn’t mention it.

  
Which is why he didn’t immediately understand what he wanted when Kenma started pulling on the corner of Kuroo’s comforter from where he was sitting. Starting a game of tug of war was most certainly not his intention, so Kuroo was about to open his mouth to ask what was wrong when Kenma whispered without looking at him, “The movie was really scary… why did you make me watch it? What if I can’t sleep and mess up all my tosses tomorrow? It would be all your fault…”

  
Understanding flashing in his eyes, Kuroo didn’t even bother checking to see if the others were looking their way or not before rolling himself over to Kenma’s futon, sliding under the cover and hugging him to his chest.

  
“Mmh, sorry kitten. Don’t worry, I’m staying right here. If you can’t sleep, just wake me up, I deserve that,” he hummed against the top of Kenma’s head, closing his eyes and completely missed Bokuto’s knowing smirk directed at the back of his head.

  
He fell asleep to the feeling of Kenma’s arms snaking around his waist, and his slow breathing against his collarbones. Both of them ended up sleeping peacefully, despite the scary movie and the number of teenagers moving around them during the night.

  
From that day on, they started sharing a bed even when their friends were around. After all, some light teasing the next day was a reasonable price to pay for the restful sleep they always got when the other was close by.

  
\------------------------------------

  
-4-

  
Kuroo’s knees were bouncing around in excitement under the table he shared with Bokuto in the coffeehouse by the business faculty. It would be fine if not for the fact that his long ass legs were bumping on said table every few seconds, making their cups clink and Bokuto sigh louder every time it happened.

  
“I swear to GOD Kuroo if you don’t calm down and let me finish my hot chocolate-”

  
“Sorry! I’m doing my best here.”

  
“Kenma isn’t going to arrive for like two more hours, you need to chill,” Bokuto replied. “Did you say his parents were driving him here with all his things?” Kuroo nodded while taking a sip of his coffee. “You sure you guys won’t need my help to carry stuff or unpack or anything? I can call Akaashi and cancel if you nee-“

  
Kuroo interrupted him, “Nah bro, it’s all good! His dad will be able to help me with the bigger stuff, and Kenma is pretty peculiar about people touching his things, as you know. We’ll be just fine, but thanks.”

  
Bokuto shrugged, “If you say so. I’m one phone call and one floor away if you change your mind.” He sipped at his drink before continuing, “I honestly can’t believe Kenma’s finally joining us in uni, after what feels like y-e-a-r-s of listening to you whining.”

  
Groaning into his cup, Kuroo could feel the tips of his ears getting hot. “I did _not_ whine, shut up. Not more than you did at least.” He muttered, setting his cup down and purposefully looking out the window. A couple seconds later, he could hear the ‘click’ of a phone camera and looked over at his friend, who was grinning maniacally at his phone while typing quickly on it.

  
“Like what you see? Setting your new wallpaper? You know you just have to ask and I will pose for you, Brokuto,” said Kuroo, batting his eyelashes.

  
“Nah, just sending it to Kenma to show him how sulky you are without him. Hopefully he will hurry his ass over faster and you will stop-“ he cut himself off with a shriek as Kuroo tried to forcefully grab at his phone over the table, nearly spilling their half-finished drinks. A few people from neighboring tables looked over at them, what with the ruckus they were making.

  
“I already sent it! Stop trying to break my phone!”

  
“Why would you do that?? I am not sulking, you’re just being annoying!”

  
Bokuto slowly sat back down, carefully putting his phone in his pocket, out of his tall friend’s reach.

  
“I’m pretty sure Kenma already knows how miserable you are when he’s not around. Worst thing that could come out of this is _him_ having a new wallpaper for his phone. You should thank me!”

  
Deciding to not even dignify this with a reply, Kuroo grabbed his coffee again and pointedly took a big sip, almost choking on it while Bokuto laughed at his expense. A pretty normal day for them.

True to what Bokuto had said at the café, Kenma texted him two hours later to let him know he was almost at the dorm. Running around one last time to make sure everything was put away nicely, Kuroo realized that he was abnormally stressed out. It would probably seem out of character to the outside eye, since it was hardly the first time Kenma came over, but today was different.

  
Kenma wasn’t just coming over, he was moving in. And that was a first. They were going to share a dorm starting today.

  
Kuroo was so excited he couldn’t stay still. It felt like their whole life they were counting the days before they got separated again, first when Kuroo left Elementary School for Junior High, then when he left for High School, then when he left for University. But these days were finally over. Kenma’s classes were starting on Monday, a week after Kuroo’s, which was why he was coming to the dorms later than him.

  
His thoughts were interrupted by a notification on his phone. Kenma was in the parking lot downstairs with his parents. He rushed out the door, remembering at the last second to grab his keys before making his way down.

  
After greeting the Kozume family - which really wasn’t a formal affair since they considered Kuroo like their second son - they set out to carry all of Kenma’s stuff to the dorm room. It only took two trips to get everything upstairs, mainly because Kuroo insisted on balancing three boxes on top of each other. And also because of the blatant lack of furniture except for the one desk.

  
After fussing over Kenma some more, his parents announced that they had to leave since they wanted to get back home before the evening traffic started. After promises to call every week, a bunch of hugs as well as some mom tears, Kenma and Kuroo ended up at the open window waving at the parking lot. Or more precisely, the blue car making its way out of said parking lot.

  
Kenma let out a deep sigh, slowly walking over to Kuroo’s bed.

  
Which, funnily enough, was the only bed in the room. Since Kuroo was living in what was supposed to be a one-man room, but they had managed to get permission from the University to let Kenma move in as well, since so few dorms were available to new students anyway. Which led Kuroo to his next question.

  
“Uh Kenma, where is your furniture? Your bed, your dresser?”

  
Kenma looked around the room at the littered cardboard boxes laying around, full of his things that he had nowhere to put.

  
“My dresser at home has three broken drawers, so I figured I would be better off buying a new one tomorrow. I also need a new chair for my desk.”

  
“Makes sense. If you want to wait for me, I’m free in the afternoon. I could go with you,” he took another look around. “Were you also, uh, planning on buying a bed?”

  
Kenma looked at him, head tilted to the side, eyes searching.

  
“Considering the size of the room and the size of my gaming setup, I think it would be smarter if I didn’t,” he replied calmly.

  
Calm, was exactly how Kuroo was feeling at this moment. A deep sense of calm. So calm. He wasn’t freaking out at all.

  
“W- what do you mean?”

  
“I don’t see where we could fit a bed next to my big desk in this small room… Are you ok Kuro?”

  
“Yes,” his voice cracked on the word. After coughing a couple times he felt confident to talk again, “Yes of course, this is fine, great!”

  
“If you aren’t fine with this you can tell me you know,” Kenma looked at his feet dangling from the bed, brows furrowed. “I just assumed it would be because, well, we’ve slept in the same bed so much, I thought-”

  
Kuroo interrupted him at that, rushing over to sit next to him, “Hey hey, I said it was fine. I’m fine with it. You’re right, it makes more sense and we’re going to have way more space for other stuff in the room. Don’t worry, okay?” He moved Kenma’s hair aside to look into his eyes.

  
“Okay then,” said Kenma, offering a small smile.

  
And that was it. They started to open boxes to see what could be taken out and what would have to wait. The dorm only had the one bedroom slash living room, a small kitchenette in the corner by the door and a bathroom.

  
An hour and some takeout dinner later, they were done and Kenma announced that he was going to take a shower. His things in hand, he made his way to the bathroom and shortly after, Kuroo could hear the sound of the water hitting the tiles.

  
About five seconds later his phone was in his hands, unlocked, calling Bokuto. His friend picked up after the third ring with their usual line.

  
“HEY HEY HEY!” came Bokuto’s overjoyed voice straight into his ear.

  
“Hey,” was all Kuroo could get out.

  
“What the- Hey! What’s going on Tetsubro? Are you okay?? Did Kenma show up? What’s going on?”

  
“I, uh, Kenma’s here, he’s taking a shower. I’m fine. I just…” He tried to collect his thoughts in order to at least somewhat make sense.

  
“Take your time.” Kuroo could hear shifting sounds, like Bokuto was settling under his blanket.

  
Taking a deep breath and holding it in for five seconds, Kuroo slowly exhaled before blurting everything out to his friend.

  
“Kenma is going to be living here but he doesn’t have a bed and he said he didn’t want one because we always sleep together anyway and we’d have more space which is true he’s right and I know that but I’m still kinda freaking out but I don’t want him to notice because I know him and he’ll think this is his fault for some fucking reason but it’s not his fault it’s my fault and I don’t know how I will-“ he got cut off in the middle of his quite frankly embarrassing rambling.

  
“Bro bro bro, calm down will you? Take another deep breath, everything will be ok,” Bokuto reassured him. “If I got everything, Kenma’s gonna sleep in your bed?”

  
“Y- yes,” there was his voice cracking again.

  
“But you said it yourself, you always sleep in the same bed when he comes over? What’s the issue here?”

  
Which was indeed a legitimate question to ask.

  
“You know what the issue is,” Kuroo aggressively whispered.

  
Bokuto let out a humming sound, halfway between understanding and mocking.

  
“Ah you mean, the fact that all those other times you somehow weren’t aware of the fact that you were hopelessly in love with your best friend?” And Kuroo could just hear the smile in his friend’s voice and groaned.

  
“I swear to god Bo I will murder you,” he said, sounding defeated. But there was no bite behind it. At the end of the day, Bokuto’s statement might have been incredibly annoying, but it hadn’t been wrong.

  
“Kuroo, my dude, from where I stand I see three options. One, you tell Kenma how you feel so there’s no misunderstanding.”

  
“No, not an option. I know him. It would only make him uncomfortable. Not doing that,” Kuroo interrupted him.

  
After a beat of silence, Bokuto kept going, royally ignoring him.

  
“Two, you don’t tell him about your feelings, but you tell him you don’t want to share a bed every night for possibly the next three years. Which, my friend, is valid. If you think you’re going to suffer because of it, you have the right to put yourself first and say no.” When Kuroo didn’t comment, he went on to his next and last point. “Three, you suck it up. Kenma doesn’t seem to find the situation weird; he even seems to expect you to find this pretty normal. So you just, sleep with him next to you. Enjoy the snuggles or whatever.”

  
Kuroo sighed, “Why are you so good a giving advice when your own personal life is as dry as the Sahara desert?”

  
“Ha, you wish. I’ll let you know I’m not that helpless thank you very much. Akaashi agreed to go on a date with me next Tuesday!”

  
“Huh? What?” Kuroo asked, eyes wide. “How come you didn’t tell me before? Bruh, as your best friend I feel betrayed right now.”

  
Bokuto laughed at that, “I actually asked him today after seeing you and was about to call you to let you know, but then you called first and went all emo on me.” He went on to explain, “We’re just going for coffee, which isn’t that different from what we usually do. But this time we won’t study over coffee, we’ll talk over coffee. I’m so ready to woo him my dude. Might even wear a tie, you know.”

  
Kuroo was about to crack a joke about the fact that the coffeehouse staff was more used to seeing him walking in wearing pajamas than formal wear, when he noticed the shower had stopped running and lost his train of thoughts.

  
“Bro, I’m so happy for you. You deserve that. Akaashi is definitely gonna be wooed. I'm not even worried about that.”

  
“Bro…”

  
“Bro… I know…”

  
“Bro…”

  
“Bro-“ Kuroo was interrupted by the bathroom door opening, letting out steam and a pajama clad Kenma towelling his wet hair. The pajamas in question consisting of one of Kuroo’s old t-shirts and shorts that reached his mid-thighs.

  
After a beat of silence, Bokuto stage-whispered into his phone, “Bruh… don’t drool over yourself, he might notice.”

  
Realizing his mouth was slightly open as he watched Kenma make his way to one of his bags to fetch something, Kuroo hastily closed it with a ‘clink’ of his teeth, making Bokuto bark out a loud laugh on the other side of the line. He was so fucked.

  
In a voice just on the side of too loud to be natural, Kuroo exclaimed, “Let me know how your date goes! I want all the juicy details.”

  
Still laughing, Bokuto barely managed to speak, “Yeah yeah, I get it. Go back to your kitten, I’m not important. Why don’t you hang up on me while you’re at-“

  
“Who was it?” Kenma asked from his crouching position by his bag, PSP in hand and towel around his shoulders.

  
Setting his phone on the nightstand, screen turned off after effectively hanging up on his loud friend, Kuroo replied, “Bokuto. He has a date with Akaashi next week, can you believe that?”

  
Kenma took the time to sit on the bed, console in hand, before replying. “I’m actually surprised it took so long. They’ve been into each other for years now.” He turned on his game, the volume turned low, “I’m happy for them, they are a good match.”

  
Almost as if by reflex, Kuroo moved from where he was laying sideways on the bed to go sit behind Kenma. Taking the towel from where it sat on the smaller boy’s shoulders, he carefully started drying his hair, trying not to jostle him too much so as to not disturb his game.

  
“I didn’t think you knew they were interested in each other,” Kuroo said softly.

  
Kenma snorted, “I might not talk about other people’s relationships much but I’m not blind. And Bokuto is not exactly subtle.” He set his console on the bed next to him after turning it off. Eyes closed, he enjoyed the feeling of his hair being softly towelled dry.

  
Humming in reply, Kuroo focused on the task at hand. A few minutes later, deeming Kenma’s hair dry enough, he dropped the towel to the floor and started carding his fingers through the tresses to get rid of any knots.

  
Kenma’s hair was one of the many things that Kuroo loved about him. The strands were so soft, just long enough to be tied in a little ponytail. And fresh out of the shower, they smelled incredibly good, like honey and peaches. He lost track of how long he had been brushing the hair with his fingers, scratching the other’s scalp from time to time, which never failed to make him sigh softly.

  
After a soft scratch behind his ear, Kenma let out what was probably closer to a low moan than a sigh, making Kuroo freeze, hands still in the soft strands.

  
He cleared his throat as subtly as he could, combing through the hair one last time. “We should go to sleep, it’s getting late and you must be tired after the day you had, yeah?”

  
Humming his approval, Kenma looked like he had no intention of opening his eyes and instead just dropped to his side to lie down where he was.

  
Chuckling lowly while setting the small console on the nightstand next to his phone, Kuroo got up and made his way to the bathroom. A single look in the mirror told him what he already knew. His cheeks were dusted pink, ears burning red. This was going fine. He would definitely survive this.

  
He quickly brushed his teeth and took a shower that ended more on the colder side for reasons he wasn’t ready to think about, before making his way back to the bedroom wearing a fresh pair of sweatpants.

  
Unsurprisingly, Kenma hadn’t moved a muscle and was still exactly where Kuroo had left him.

  
He took exactly seven seconds to admire the boy’s soft features, before softly shaking him, whispering, “Kenma? Kenma, you need to get under the covers or you will catch a cold.” At that, Kenma whined a little, hand coming up to rub his closed eyes.

  
‘Fucking precious’, thought Kuroo. He crouched a little, lifting a half-asleep Kenma to a sitting position to pull the covers down enough for them to slip under.

  
All his apprehension from earlier vanished, replaced by a serenity he only ever felt when Kenma was breathing softly against his collarbones, their bodies pressed together and legs tangled.

  
He was going to be okay. He was going to be perfectly fine. And for the first time that evening, he meant it.

  
From that day on, they shared the bed every night, with the exception of a few odd occurrences where one of them had to pull an all-nighter in order to complete a particularly complex paper or do some last minute coffee fueled studying for an exam.

  
\------------------------------------

  
-5-

  
“Bokuto, I swear if you drop Kenma’s brand new TV he will skin you alive and I will watch while eating popcorn!”

  
Kuroo was only half joking, watching tensely as Bokuto carried the large flatscreen on his own, when any sensible person would have seen that it was a two-man job.

  
“Don’t worry man, I know what I’m doing,” came the strained reply.

  
Let’s just say, everyone involved was glad Kuroo had fast receiving reflexes from years of playing volleyball for Nekoma. And decided to never mention to Kenma why those reflexes had been needed in the first place.

  
Carefully setting the TV in its designed spot in what would shortly become Kenma’s office, Bokuto and Kuroo sighed their relief, sharing a solemn nod before making their way back down to the truck to get the rest of the things. They passed Daichi and Iwaizumi in the stairwell, trying their best to bring a big red couch upstairs without dying, followed by Oikawa who was carrying a single potted plant and talking about how the latest Mercury retrograde fucked everything up in his life.

  
By the car, Hinata and Kageyama were arguing over how many boxes they could each carry in one go. Bokuto joined in on the argument, and ten minutes later the three of them were panting on top of the second floor stairwell, eight boxes surrounding them.

  
Kuroo stepped around them with his box, walking inside his and Kenma’s new apartment.

  
“Oi Kuro, let me see the other side of this box,” Kenma appeared in front of him. After seeing the red circle drawn on it, he directed him to the kitchen to set it down.

  
“That color coded system was pretty smart, I gotta say,” said Kuroo, while making his way back to Kenma.

  
“Of course it’s smart, I came up with it,” Kenma said with a small smile. Kuroo laughed at that, pulling the smaller man into a hug.

  
“Ugh Kuro stop that, you’re all sweaty and gross,” Kenma protested, pushing weakly at the torso pressed to his face. Taking half a step back, Kuroo looked down, a soft smile on his lips.

  
“Damn straight I am, I’m doing all the work in here!”

  
Kuroo could hear steps behind him, the only warning he got before the storm.

  
“Hey!! We heard that!” Turning his head, arms still wrapped around Kenma, Kuroo smirked at Bokuto, Hinata and Kageyama who were finally making their way over with their collective eight boxes.

  
Setting them on the floor, Hinata added, “You only brought one in the same time it took us to bring that many, that means we won!”

  
“I would have had time to go get more, but Kenma cornered me to give me hugs because I’ve been working so well, what can I do?” He was rewarded for this comment by a soft punch to the stomach, Kenma clearly done with the hug he was absolutely not responsible for giving.

  
Making his way closer to the others after ducking under Kuroo’s arm, Kenma instructed, “Let me see the color on each box, and I’ll tell you in which room to put it.”

  
Bokuto and Hinata graced him with their best military salute gestures, while Kageyama looked at Hinata with what seemed to be an equal mix of despair and exasperation. (“Why are you looking at me like that, Bakageyama?? Bokuto did the exact same thing?”)

  
When all eight boxes were sorted out, Kuroo was back with two more, followed by Daichi and Iwaizumi carrying more furniture. Akaashi and Sugawara were helping Kenma empty some of the boxes and put away their content, and Oikawa was nowhere to be seen.

  
By the time they were done, the sun was setting, bathing the apartment in a warm orange glow, making the whole space feel… incredibly warm and cozy. With pizza boxes and beer cans laying around on the coffee table and their closest friends sprawled around them in his and Kenma’s own apartment, Kuroo could honestly say that he was so very happy.

  
Looking over at Kenma sitting next to him on the couch, he could see the smile in his eyes, cheeks slightly flushed from laughing at some ridiculous story Bokuto and Hinata were sharing about their last volleyball practice match. He seemed happy too.

  
Half an hour later, their friends started leaving. With promises to invite everyone back for drinks and games when they were fully set up, Kenma and Kuroo thanked everyone again for their help and wished them a safe trip home.

  
Closing the front door after Bokuto, who had to be dragged away by Akaashi since it seemed he really wanted to overstay his welcome, Kenma let out the sigh of the century, forehead thumping against it.

  
Making his way over with a low chuckle, Kuroo spun the smaller man around to bring him into an embrace, his chin resting atop the other’s head.

  
“Long day huh.” A groan answered him. “Hey how about this. I will clean up in here real quick and you go draw us a bath. Use one of the bath bombs you like. We deserve that, don’t you think?” Kuroo looked down at Kenma, eyes and smile soft.

  
Kenma looked up with a smile of his own, hands coming up Kuroo’s neck.

  
“It’s when you say things like that, that I remember why I keep you around,” he said in his most deadpan voice, but the effect was somewhat dulled by the smile that reached his eyes.

  
Before Kuroo had time to protest the comment, probably to enunciate the long list of reasons Kenma actually kept him around for, he was pulled down for a kiss.

  
Kissing Kenma was something he could never get enough of. Three years later, and he still felt the same giddiness every time. Deepening the kiss, he brought a hand up to the other’s hair, softly pulling on it while simultaneously bringing him closer with the hand on his back.

  
A few moments later, Kenma slowly detached himself from him, with red cheeks and slightly swollen lips. “Bath,” was the only thing he said, before walking out in the direction of the bathroom.

  
Taking a few seconds to look around the space, Kuroo felt pride fill his chest as he thought about how they got here. Life wasn’t always perfect, that was normal. But he knew, the same way he knew the sky was blue or that the earth was round, that having Kenma by his side made his life as close to perfect as it could be.

  
After clearing out all remnants of their dinner from the living room and putting the throw pillows back on the couch (since Bokuto and Hinata had a very literal understanding of the name throw pillow), he made his way to the bathroom.

  
Kenma was waiting for him in front of the shower, the bath drawn and almost overflowing with bubbles, ready for later. His clothes already removed and thrown in the hamper, he beckoned Kuroo over with an outstretched hand. Hand that Kuroo grabbed and brought to his lips to pepper soft kisses on.

  
“You’re so beautiful,” Kuroo murmured to his lover who didn’t reply with words, but did take one step closer and tugged him down to leave a small kiss to his neck. Kenma helped him take his clothes off, both of them in no hurry, and together they stepped into the shower to wash off the day’s remnants.

  
After standing under the stream for just a few seconds, Kuroo reached for the shampoo.

  
“Wait,” interjected Kenma before grabbing the bottle himself. He didn’t say more, just stepped right in front of Kuroo and started lathering the product over his head, massaging his scalp. Kuroo shut his eyes and focused on the heavenly feeling. It felt so good, like he was floating.

  
A couple minutes later the massage stopped, but before Kuroo could open his eyes to try and reciprocate, Kenma came back with hands full of soap and started sudsing him up, gently working the product over his shoulders, then his chest, his arms, his back, before kneeling and working on his lower body.

  
Kenma slowly made his way back up, deft fingers still working on his boyfriend’s body, until he was standing again and brought his face down for a chaste kiss. He gently pushed Kuroo back a step until he was standing under the stream again, and used his hands to collect water and splash him to rinse off the soap.

  
He started running his fingers through Kuroo’s hair under the spray, gently carding through them and kissing his chest softly every few seconds.

  
Kuroo felt so incredibly loved at that moment, it was hard not to get overwhelmed. He felt tears prickling behind his closed eyes, the feeling incredible. He was so deeply in love with Kenma, had been for years now. And now he knew that Kenma loved him back, they told each other often.  
But what Kenma was giving him at this moment was rare and precious. The care with which he washed and rinsed him, the chaste kisses, his loving gaze that Kuroo knew was directed at him even without opening his eyes.

  
It was love. In its purest form. And Kuroo felt so utterly blessed to be on the receiving end of it.

  
After a good five minutes of this treatment, Kenma deemed his hair free of any shampoo and Kuroo slowly opened his eyes. Golden eyes were looking up at him, full of care and affection, and he wouldn’t hold back the two tears that fell, mixed with the water already on his face.

  
“Hey…” he whispered, voice full of adoration.

  
“Hey you,” Kenma replied in the same tone, pulling him down for another kiss that made Kuroo’s knees weak. “Why don’t you go in the bath now before all the bubbles are gone, and I’ll join you in a minute?”

  
Speechless, Kuroo only nodded and stepped out of the shower after giving Kenma’s hand a squeeze. He slowly made his way over to the bath, before stepping in and lowering himself in the hot water. The scents wafting from the surface were helping him relax even more, which shouldn’t have been possible.

  
After what felt like the blink of an eye, Kenma appeared by his side and joined him in the bath, water gently sloshing around them as he sat down between his legs, scooting back until he was pressed against Kuroo’s chest.

  
They stayed like that for a while, not talking. Just enjoying each other’s proximity. Kuroo’s arms wrapped around his boyfriend, deciding to never let go. The moment was perfect.

  
“We should probably get out and go to bed before you fall asleep and drown,” suggested Kenma after a while, his fingers intertwining with Kuroo’s.

  
In his normal state, Kuroo would have probably thought of a snarky comment in answer to that, but as he was at this moment all he could do was hum and press a few kisses to the side of Kenma’s head. His head felt like it was full of cotton, his limbs light and his heart full.

  
After they got out of the water and Kenma wordlessly towelled him dry, they made their way to the bedroom hand in hand.

  
The room was a blank canvas. The bed was in place as well as the dresser, but one corner of the room was filled with piled boxes and the walls were free of any decoration. They had all the time in the world to make it their own. Slowly, bit by bit, the room and the apartment would fill with memories of them and their life together. And they were so ready for all of it.

  
After settling in bed and snuggling as close as they could, Kuroo exhaled the most contended sigh.

  
“I love you so much kitten. Thank you. For tonight, today, every day that you’ve been in my life.” He felt his boyfriend’s hand trailing feather light touches to his cheek, his neck, his shoulder and ending up over his heart.

  
“I love you too Tetsurou,” he whispered. “You give me so much all the time, I don’t think you even realize… I wanted to give you back a percent of what I receive from you on a daily basis. I know I’m not one for big declarations, but I need you to know how much it means…” he trailed off.

  
“I know.”

  
No words were needed after that. They just held each other close and fell asleep.

  
From that day on, they savored the chance to sleep every night with the person they loved, in a home they made for themselves.

  
\------------------------------------

  
5 + 1

  
Kuroo took a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and slowly let it out. He repeated the exercise a few times, alternating between closing his eyes and looking at the ceiling over his bed. Trying to empty his mind.

  
A few minutes later, he felt calm enough and looked over to his right, eying the empty space in the bed next to him. The space where Kenma normally slept. Extending his arm, he let his fingers trail over the cold pillow that still held his smell.

  
It had been years since he had to sleep alone, and he didn’t know if he would be able to sleep at all. Unsure if it was the idea of falling asleep without the smaller body in his arms, or the whole situation that resulted in Kenma leaving the apartment with his small suitcase earlier today that was causing his restlessness.

  
His thoughts were interrupted by his ringing phone. He slowly sat up and reached for it, no urgency behind his movements.

  
He knew it wasn’t Kenma. He told him that he wouldn’t call when he left.

  
Seeing his best friend’s name, he picked up.

  
“HEY HEY HEY!” came the overexcited greeting.

  
Unable to bite back a smile, Kuroo replied his usual: “Hey hey hey Bo!”

  
“Kaashi told me not to call because he thought you would already be asleep, but I told him there was no way you would be in bed by 9pm even today so I called anyway!”

  
“Mmh,” came Kuroo’s reply. His friend’s joy and excitement were contagious. But he wanted to wallow for a bit more, sue him. “I miss him…”

  
“Are you for real?”

  
“What are you talking about? Of course I am! I’m lying in bed alone, how am I supposed to sleep?”

  
“Bruh, want me to come over or something? Have a sleepover? You can be the big spoon if you want,” laughed Bokuto, clearly at his expense.

  
Kuroo huffed. He knew he sounded childish but he really didn’t care.

  
“He’s been gone for like three hours max,” Bokuto continued as if he hadn’t made a sound. “Get a grip man!”

  
“But I love him and he’s gone!” Kuroo whined. But if anyone asked, he would argue that he did not, in fact, whine.

  
At that Bokuto straight up laughed in his face (well, in his ear).

  
“He’s gone for one night, to sleep at Hinata’s, because tomorrow you guys are getting married and the superstition says that you can’t see each other the night before!”

  
Taking the time to admire the engagement ring on his finger, Kuroo half pouted, half smiled.

  
“I am still allowed to miss him,” he started before getting interrupted.

  
“You can, but you can also stop acting like he went off to war and didn’t make it back! And you say Oikawa is a drama queen…”

  
“Hey! Do not imply that I’m as dramatic as him. If it was his wedding tomorrow we would all be trying to escape bridezilla.” Kuroo laughed, his smile impossible to hide now.

  
After a few seconds of silence, apparently used by his silver haired friend to imagine the horror scenario, he seemed to agree. “I know I brought this up, but I would like it if we could talk about something else, because otherwise I will have nightmares about Oikawa forcing me to try 75 different flavors of Godzilla themed wedding cakes.”

  
Bokuto almost always knew how to cheer him up, that was a fact. But that one made Kuroo laugh so hard tears started falling in his hair while he gasped for breath. He really had great friends.

  
Seemingly satisfied with his work, Bokuto hummed while waiting for his friend to calm down. There was a soft voice on his end of the call, speaking words unintelligible to Kuroo.

  
“Akaashi wants me to make sure that your vows are written and good to go? Which, I mean, I was going to ask anyway because I’m the best best man and it’s my job to make sure you did your job hehehe”

  
Sparing a glance at his bedside table, where sat a box with two rings and a piece of paper folded in half, Kuroo sighed in contentment.

  
“Yeah, they’re written and good to go.”

  
He admitted he had spent quite a while on them, wanting to make sure they were perfect. Because that’s what Kenma deserved.

  
“Want to give them a trial run by me?” his friend asked.

  
“Sure! Put Akaashi on speaker, I kinda want his opinion on this since he’s so good with words and all that.”

  
After a few seconds, the man in question made himself known.

  
“I’m here Kuroo-san, we’re listening.”

  
Kuroo took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the piece of paper in his hands, and loudly released it. Ok, he was ready.

  
“Kenma,” he started, “it’s hard to believe that our story began around 20 years ago now, back when you did me the honor of becoming my best friend even though I was too shy to really talk to you, and during those two decades we’ve been through so much together. I experienced everything worth remembering in your presence. The laughs and the tears, the exhaustion, the happiness and the sadness. And most of all, the love.

  
When I’m with you, I feel whole. You’re going to think I’m lame and cringey but you knew what you signed up for when you accepted my confession so I will just go on.

  
Every talk we have, every silence we share, every time I annoy you by hogging all the pillows and every time I have to bodily carry you away from your games in order to get you to eat, all of it is part of us and our story. And I can’t wait for us to experience the rest of our lives together.

  
I am here today in front of you, our family and our friends, to tell you and the whole world that I vow to support you, cherish you, take care of you, annoy you a bit and love you a lot, forever.

  
Forever is a long time, but I promise to bake you apple pies when I feel like you need one. I promise to nurse you back to health when you get a fever because your friends, including me, are jackasses. I promise to always love you, even if you start snoring in your old age.

  
Forever is a long time, but I know it won’t be long enough for us to finish writing our story. Because our story will bleed onto our next life, and the one after that.

  
Because, Kozume Kenma, kitten, I promise to love you unconditionally, in this life and in the next ones.”

  
The silence on the other end of the line was deafening. Kuroo wasn’t sure if getting Bokuto to shut up for that long was a good or a bad thing. Opting to wait a bit longer, he folded the paper again and put it back on his bedside table.

  
“Kuroo-san,” started Akaashi in his usual calm and composed voice, “that was beautiful, he will love it.”

  
“Dude he will either kick you or cry, maybe both,” continued Bokuto.

  
At that Kuroo couldn’t hold back his signature hyena laugh. He knew Bokuto was right, Kenma would probably kick him for saying that out loud and in front of people. But you only get married to your soulmate once so he was fairly convinced he would be pardoned quickly.

  
“I wanted to talk about how many times I made a fool of myself because or for him in the past two decades, but I figured we would be standing there for hours and I know he’ll want cake by then so I decided not to.”

  
Akaashi softly laughed at that, “That’s probably wise.”

  
“Well, Kuroo, allow me to say that those were some fine ass vows my dude. I can’t wait to see how many people cry tomorrow!” The excitation was palpable in Bokuto’s voice.

  
‘Tomorrow’, thought Kuroo. ‘I am marrying Kenma tomorrow.’ It felt unreal.

  
“Bokuto-san, I think we should let Kuroo-san sleep now. He has a big day coming up.”

  
“He’s right my bro, get your beauty sleep! We’ll be over at eight to get ready together. Don’t sweat about a thing,” his best man announced.

  
Kuroo realized he wasn’t as anxious as he thought he would be. Sure, he wanted everything to go perfectly according to plan. But he at least knew that in 24 hours, he would be lying in bed with his husband. And that was the most important thing about that day.

  
“You’re right, I’ll turn in now. Thank you so much, I appreciate both of you for helping so much these past few months.”

  
“Aww don’t sweat it! You’ll do the same for me when I propose to Kaashi!”

  
Kuroo snorted as he heard Bokuto squeak and hang up after a few unintelligible words. Welp, that happened.

  
Setting down his phone with an affectionate headshake and a mandatory roll of his eyes, Kuroo turned off the light and lay down. Being alone in this big bed didn’t seem as daunting as it had earlier.

  
He did spend quite a bit of time writing those vows, but he also knew they did not even cover five percent of what he was feeling for Kenma. He would just have to show him, every day for the rest of their lives. And the next ones, of course. He was ready to share everything he had with him, including his bed, for the rest of forever.

  
After all, he’d already been doing it for two decades.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading !!
> 
> The Shower Scene™ was inspired by this lovely post that became viral a while ago : https://www.reddit.com/r/offmychest/comments/b01u6s/my_girlfriend_washed_my_hair_today/
> 
> You can find me on Twitter : @purrfectkuro


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